


Keep The Ghosts Away

by Indigo_Penstrokes



Category: Bandstand - Oberacker/Oberacker & Taylor
Genre: F/F, Ghosts, M/M, Nick and Jo can see ghosts, uhh its sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 16:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17062832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indigo_Penstrokes/pseuds/Indigo_Penstrokes
Summary: Nick can see ghosts, he tries to ignore them, but sometimes he just can't.





	Keep The Ghosts Away

Nick had always been able to see the dead. It wasn’t something he was proud of, no, it was a burden most days. Seeing them everywhere was bad enough, wandering aimlessly through the streets they had once walked daily during their lives, but the worst was when they would cling to the living, trying to not be forgotten. The ghosts also ranged in visibility. The recently dead, or those with stronger connections to the living, were always more solid than those who had been around longer or whose purposes for staying had long since been forgotten.

He had been able to ignore them during the war, he dismissed them as casualties that didn’t need to bother him. It was hard, but he managed. 

Then he came home after those endless months in that awful camp and he couldn’t ignore them any longer. He wanted a way out, and that’s when the band came into his life. The music let him ignore the ghosts, even if the band all had their own ghosts. 

He had noticed the one that stayed with Jimmy first. It was a tall man with a nasty looking gash on his right shoulder and sea soaked hair. He followed Jimmy everywhere, always a step behind. Sometimes he would reach for Jimmy’s hand or arm, but he would pass right through, no indication he had even tried to touch Jimmy. These were the times he saw the ghost cry, if it was even possible for a ghost to cry, or maybe it was the sea water running down his face. It was only when Nick caught a glimpse of his dog tags that he had a name for the ghost, Aaron Miller. Other times he would reach for pens, sometimes making them move fractions of an inch, but it was never enough to write a message. If only he could tell Jimmy goodbye, if they'd only had a few more seconds. If they had been able to finish their story. If only wasn't enough. 

The next one was Donny and Julia. How he hadn’t seen their ghost first was baffling. Michael, as he had come to find out, looked so solid Nick almost didn’t believe he was gone. He looked like he had walked right out of the trenches and was almost a spitting image of Wayne, the only difference was the tousled hair and army uniform. He never tried to interact with either of them like Aaron did, he just watched them, a melancholy smile on his face. Sometimes he would watch Jimmy too, like an old friend you see on the street. Most days he would just sit next to Donny at the piano and watch the two people he had cared for the most in the world fall in love with each other. It was fitting in a way, he had always known that Julia would love Nova, he just had thought he would be there to introduce the two.

Wayne's ghost was nothing Nick had ever seen before. He was always there when Wayne checked his watch, mirroring the movement. He would flicker into existence behind Wayne when Donny would say he had to change the schedule last minute. Nick got a good look at the ghost whenever he snapped at Wayne for picking his clothes up. The ghost looked like he couldn’t have been older than twenty, his brown hair sticking up in all directions, but the biggest feature was the scarlet stain in the middle of his torso. The Marine hovered behind Wayne like a constant reminder of how things would've been different if Wayne had only been more organized. It hurt Nick to watch it happen, knowing he couldn’t do anything to help the man he loved except to stay back and let Wayne keep his routine.

Nick also saw ghosts he didn’t expect, like the ones that faded in and out around Johnny. The two were fuzzy around the edges at best, but one was always clearer than the other. He saw the clear one when Johnny talked about how lucky he was he held onto that steering wheel as he flipped three times. The ghost looked proud whenever Johnny said that, but also sad, like he could only remember half of the story. The fuzzier one always showed up when Johnny forgot to take his pills, looking like he blamed himself for what happened. 

He found that when Davy wasn’t drunk off his ass there was one following him too. It shouldn't have been a surprise, but it was, especially when he saw that the ghost had his knuckles wrapped and taped, like he was ready to box. He didn’t keep as close to Davy like Michael kept to Julia or Donny, but he was always in the room with Davy, watching and waiting. For what Nick didn’t know. His suspicions were all but confirmed when he saw the ghost recoil when Wayne mentioned a quicker way to end it all instead of drinking the memories away. This ghost hadn’t died during battle in either theater, but fighting one on the home front instead.

Then one day something happened that he hadn't thought possible. Jo came up to him before a gig, a towel wrung in her hands, “Can you see them too?” It was a seemingly benign question, but it nearly made him drop his trumpet. 

“What?” He bit out, hands shaking slightly as he oiled the valves. 

“The ghosts,” She replied, eyes fixed on something across the room. 

He turned to see what she was looking at. Michael had perched himself on top of the piano. “What makes you think I can?” 

She just shrugged, setting the towel on the bar. “You tend to stare at them, but you didn't answer my question.” 

He took a deep breath, “I can you're right, but it's not like I want to.” He caught a glimpse of something over Jo’s shoulder, it looked like a girl with dark hair. Jo shifted and the phantom was gone.

“Did you see that?” Nick blurted, not sure what came over him. 

“What?” Jo cocked her head to the side. 

“I thought I saw someone, it's nothing.” He shook his head, maybe seeing ghosts was starting to rot his brain. 

Jo looked behind her, “Oh, that's Morgan. She was my... friend. She died in a POW camp in Germany. Infection got in her lungs.” Tears had started to form in her eyes, “Sorry, I don't even know why I told you that, you probably think I'm a mess. It’s just no one else understands what it’s like.” 

Nick went quiet, he could see Morgan plain as day now, her nurse uniform was dingy and torn in places as it all but hung off her thin frame. She was trying to wipe away the tear that had made its way down Jo’s cheek. Her bone thin hands shaking as she barely touched Jo’s face. Her mouth moved like she was trying to comfort Jo, who only nodded in response. 

He opened his mouth to tell Jo that he had seen it happen, he'd seen what those camps did to people. How many of them didn't make it home. How he knew what it felt like to see the ghosts and not be able to hear or help them. But he couldn’t find the words, it was like they were stuck behind something in his throat. Instead he just nodded and hoped she understood what he meant. That he understood.

“Hey Nick we open in ten, why don’t you come over and warm up with us, or are you too good for that?” Donny snarked playfully, completely unaware of the conversation that just happened. 

“I am too good for you Novitski,” Nick quipped back, false annoyance coating his words against the way his head was still grasping at what Jo had told him. He saw Michael throw his head back in silent laughter, as if he approved of Nick’s jab at Donny before he faded away like ghosts sometimes did.

“Yeah sure, just get your ass over here.” Donny was laughing along with the rest of the band as Nick took his spot next to Wayne and Jimmy.

For those few minutes he was happy, no ghosts to ruin it or remind him of things. Just him, the band, and their music. And that was enough for Nick

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos will make my day so tell me what you thought below!  
> come talk to me on tumblr @ad-astra-de-luna


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